 Hyacinth
Neville Marguerite Palmer is probably the least known person
in the Cranstoun family. She married Arthur
Herbert Canstoun in 1929, when he died in 1932 Hyacinth
took their two children Langford Arthur Edwin Cranstoun and
Hyacinth Neville Cranstoun back to St. Kitts.
Family in Antigua always spoke highly of her daughter “Cynthia"
and I knew she had been married on St. Kitts but no one seemed
to know anything of her family, I always wondered why she
went back to St. Kitts, and when I went to St. Kitts I found
out why, she was born on St. Kitts and her family lived there.
In the Spring 2014, my wife and I made the trek to St. Kitts
to find my family. While I was at the St. Kitts National Archive
Office I explained to Vicki O’Flaherty, head of the archive
office, my purpose and when I mentioned the name of Palmer
she looked at me and said, "In all my years of working
here you are only the second person who has ever asked about
this family. Are you looking for plantation money?"
I told her my interest was strictly to learn about family
and she put me in touch with a woman from England named, Sherri
Cooper.
Vicki's question about plantation money struck a bell as
I was asked the same question in Antigua. As someone who was
just looking for family this was a little puzzling but as
I was to learn many people come to the islands looking for
just that, plantation money.
I have had people contact me from this web site and insisting
they are related with some odd ball story which makes no sense
and insist there is plantation money to be had from the Cranstoun's
and be extremely annoying about it. To those future people,
you're talking to the wrong guy, no one knows more about the
Cranstoun family than me and there never, ever was any plantation
money...WWI, declining cane prices, conglomerates, death of
Langford Selly Cranstoun, death of Arthur Herbert Cranstoun,
Langford Duer Cranstoun living in Canada forced the family,
like many others to give up their properties for the remaining
mortgage to the larger conglomerates.
As a result of my statement to Vicki O’Flaherty in St.
Kitts about the Palmer family, Sherri of England provided
the insight and history of the Palmer family. I provided the
information on Hyacinth Neville Marguerite Palmer Cranstoun
family to Sherri and we have been corresponding ever since.
- Husband
- Children
- Parents
Edwin Neville Palmer (born 20 Jan 1870 in
Dieppe Bay, St. Kitts, British West Indies) and
Sarah Louisa Bernadenas Parmenter/Pamenter (born
13 Jan 1870 on Pond Estate, St. Kitts, British West
Indies).
-
I have ben gathering and receiving information for
years and one day I was contcted and told old Edwin
Neville Palmer had an illegitimate child. This was
not unusual for people running sugar plantations back
then, his own son-in-law, Arthur
Herbert Canstoun was a prime example of this.
Anyway Neville had a son named Neville Palmer who married
Eleanor "Ellen" Patrick and they had a son
named Ashley Palmer born 1912 at Parson's Ground, Saint
John Capisterre, St Kitts and Nevis and died 1986 at
Parson's Ground, Saint John Capisterre, St Kitts and
.he married Pearline Payne Seaton and they had a lage
family (too many children to list here).
Neville Edwin
Palmer
- Wife
-
Sarah Louisa Bernadenas Parmenter/Pamenter
(born 13 Jan 1870 on Pond Estate, St. Kitts) was the
daughter of George Parmenter/Pamenter and Mary
Ann Smith Margetson (born Abt. 1826 in St Kitts
and died 16 Sep 1903 on Parsons Estate, St Kitts,
British West Indies).
- Children
-
Hyacinth Neville Marguerite Palmer (16
January 1901 at Parsons Ground, St. John, Capisterre,
St Kitts)
see above
-
Violet Mary “Vivian” Palmer
(born 10 June 1908 at Parsons Ground, St. Kitts)
never married
- Daphine Emily Palmer (born 18 Oct 1909 at
Parsons Ground, St. John, Capisterre, St Kitts)
Daphne Emily Palmer married Joseph Darnley Maloney on
June 6, 1950 in Basseterre, St. Kitts. They had two
children Mary Patricia born 1955 and Philip Alexander
born 1951.
Mary Patricia Maloney married Mark D. Miller in June
1980. It was Mary Patricia that provided me with the
pictures of her family and some family information.
- Parents
Dr. Thomas Chambers Palmer and Mary Sophia Robinson Henville
Dr. Thomas Chambers
Palmer
- Wife
-
Mary Sophia Robinson Henville married Dr.
Thomas Chambers Palmer and had nine children,
four sons and five daughters:
I could not find any records on Mary Sophia Robinson
Henville even though I had obtained a database of
births on St. Kitts and Nevis specifically for the
Henville’s. In July 2015, I made contact with
Che Davison (Langford Arthur Edwin Cranstoun’s
step daughter) who lived it and she was able to provide
an insight on the Cranstoun family from St. Kitts,
which no one I knew, had any idea of.
I had discovered through Hazel Brookes that she was
a childhood neighbour of the Cranstoun’s, so
I assumed that the house she had shown me was the
house Langford and Sigrid lived in after they were
married. How wrong I was! Che, informed me that the
family first moved into the house of my Malone cousin
on Princes Street in Basseterre. I was also informed
that after Langford’s car bus accident, Charles
Francis Henville became his lawyer.
She said Charles Francis Henville was somehow related
but she did not know how and when Langford’s
sister “Cynthia” and her son Stephen would
return to St. Kitts for a visit they would stay with
the Henville’s.
This was the break I needed to begin to understand
the Henville family. I searched for Charles Francis
Henville and found information on him, then I found
his nephew Don Mitchell, also a lawyer, and I contacted
him and was able to make contact with a son of Charles
Francis Henville, Michael Henville.
I had contacted Michael before but I had overwhelmed
him with names he did not know. On my second attempt
he saw I was really interested and I had used a few
names he knew and he provided me with some contacts
to extend my journey into my family tree. One contact
was the daughter of Daphine Emily Palmer, Mary Patricia
Miller, no one in the family had told me Daphne was
married so I was overjoyed to make contact with her.
- Children
- Anne Chambers Palmer ?–1908
Married Richard Edward Rawlins born 18 November 1826
on St. Kitts, British West Indies. They had eight children:
• James Friend Palmer Rawlins 1856-?
• Dr. William Henry Evelyn Rawlins 1857-1934
• Eloisa Wheatland "Ella" Rawlins 1862-1937
• Mayable Josephine Rawlins 1862-?
• Adele Kathleen Rawlins 1864-1939
• Richard Clifford Meggs Rawlins 1865-1929
• Rosetta Rawlins 1867-1930 (twin)
• Lillian Rawlins 1867-? (twin)
- Charles Thomas Palmer 1859–?
- James Friend Palmer 1862–1910
Child: Margaret Wattley Palmer - mother unknown
- M. E. Palmer 1864–1910
- Ellen Jane Palmer 1866–?
- Unknown Palmer 1868–?
- Neville Edwin Palmer 1870–? Hyancinth's
father.
Child: Neville Palmer - mother unknown, married Eleanor
"Ellen" Patrick and had a daughter Ashley
1912-1986
Married Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter (see
above)
- stillborn Palmer 1874–?
- Joseph Amory Palmer 1877–?
- Parents
Sarah Louise Bernadine
Parmenter/Pamenter
- Parents
-
Mary Ann Smith Margetson 1826-1903, died Parsons
Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies married George
Parmenter/Pamenter
Mary Ann Smith Margetson named her son Robert Bernard
Parmenter/Pamenter Executor of her will and Edwin
Neville Palmer was a witness, in which she left everything
to her four children, George Thomas Constatine Parmenter/Pamenter,
Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter, Charles Henry Eugene
Parmenter/Pamenter and Sarah Louisa Bernadenas Parmenter/Pamenter-Palmer
(Hyacinth’s mother). The only son where one can
find anything was Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter
who married Sarah Elizabeth Yearwood, daughter of
Francis Yearwood. They had one son Wentworth Lloyd
Parmenter/Pamenter born on April 4, 1884 at Ottley’s
Plantation.
- Children
- George Thomas Constantine Parmenter/Pamenter
1864-?
- Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter 1865–?
married Sarah Elizabeth Yearwood they had three children
• Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter was a member
of the Nevis & St. Kitts Legislative Council in
1917 and the Handbook Of The Leeward Islands shows he
was the owner of Jessup’s Estate on Nevis. Also,
I found an article which states “In 1900 the business
of the Charlestown branch of the mercantile firm of
S.L. Horsford was acquired by R.B. Parmenter/Pamenter”.
• Audrey Merle Parmenter/Pamenter married Thomas
Edward Elliot and they had a son and a daughter
• Wentworth Lloyd Parmenter/Pamenter born 4 April
1894 on Ottleys Plantation, St. Kitts
• Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter
- Charles Henry Eugine Parmenter/Pamenter 1867-?
- Sarah Bernadina Parmenter/Pamenter 1868-1870
- Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter 1870-?
married Neville Edwin Palmer (above)
- Parents
Parents of Mary Ann Smith Margetson were John Margetson
born 1800 in England and Ayah. May not have married
but had a relationship with a lady believed to be called
Ayah, (surname believed to be of African-Carib Indian
descent. Ayah meaning = Mother or Nurse Maid. Marie Evelyn,
daughter of Henry Francis and Marie Augusta remembered
her Grandmother and called her Ayah when visiting the
family in England during the 1980's.
John Margetson
- Wife
-
Ayah. May not have married but had a relationship
with a lady believed to be called Ayah, (surname believed
to be of African-Carib Indian descent. Ayah meaning
- Mother or Nurse Maid. Marie Evelyn, daughter of
Henry Francis and Marie Augusta remembered her Grandmother
and called her Ayah when visiting the family in England
during the 1980's.
John Margetson left England for St. Kitts to
work for Manning & Anderdon (name sound familiar?
see David Cranstoun
The strings of family ties are growing tighter).
- Children
- John David Margetson 1826-1884 died on Parsons
Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies
Had eight children with 4 different women.
- Mary Ann Smith Margetson married George Parmenter/Pamenter
see Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter above
- Henry Francis Margetson 1841-1881 died on Parsons
Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies
Married Marie Augusta Thomas 1862-1897 on 4 September
1889 at the Moravian Church, Basseterre, St Kitts, they
had three sons and a daughter. He was a planter and
she was a concert pianist.
Marie Evelyn Margetson born 24 December 1890 on Parsons
Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies and died in April
1986 in New York, New York, New York, USA
Edward Henry Margetson born 31 December 1892 on Parsons
Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies and died 22 January
1960. He married Rosemond C Willoughby from Jamaica
and they had two children.
Barbara Margetson born 1924 in New York City and married
a man named Watson.
Desmond Willoughby Margetson born 1926 and died 2008
in New York City. He married Ann Lesser in 1951 and
had two sons.
- Parents
Alice
Anne Louise Cranstoun
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